Trump’s media company being probed for Russia-linked money laundering: Report

While special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) like DWAC are quickly becoming popular on Wall Street for allowing companies to more easily list on stock exchanges, they are not allowed to have any planned mergers before listing their IPO. However, Trump Media and DWAC landed in hot waters after reports emerged that the two were in discussions about a merger for months.

This prompted federal authorities including the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the companies.

With the merger delayed due to the investigation, Trump Media was on the “brink of collapse” when it received a $2 million payment from Paxum Bank registered in Dominica in December 2021. Two months later, the media organisation, which owns Trump’s Twitter copy Truth Social, received another $6 million.

The loans come from Paxum Bank and ES Family Trust. The two financial institutions shared the common point of Angel Pacheco, who is the trustee of ES Family Trust and a director of Paxum Bank. The Russian connection is through Paxum Bank’s part owner Anton Postolnikov, a possible relative of Aleksandr Smirnov. Smirnov is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Smirnov worked under the Putin government till 2017 and is now the head of the Russian government-owned maritime company Rosmorport.

Prosecutors were also concerned about the transactions as Paxum Bank regularly finances businesses involved in pornography and sex work, businesses that are at high risk of being money laundering fronts. The company’s executives were concerned about the opaque sources of the funding but didn’t send the money back as they were strapped for cash, revealed co-founder-turned-whistleblower Will Wilkerson. Authorities were first made aware of the payments by Wilkerson.

While Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. knew of the first payment coming through, it is not known whether Trump himself was aware of the matter. The legal culpability of the company for taking the payments is also under question though the “potentially unsavoury sources” could damage Trump’s campaign for the 2024 US Presidential Elections.